UCF Campus Reopens After Dorm Death, Discovery of Explosive

The former University of Central Florida student who killed himself in a dorm room early Monday had planned to kill others but apparently changed his mind and took only his own life, police said.

By LESLIE POSTAL, DENISE-MARIE ORDWAY & AMY PAVUKORLANDO SENTINEL

ORLANDO | The former University of Central Florida student who killed himself in a dorm room early Monday had planned to kill others but apparently changed his mind and took only his own life, police said.The deceased, identified as James Oliver Seevakumaran, 30, was found in his dorm room in Tower 1, a seven-story structure near the UCF Arena.UCF Police Chief Richard Beary said writings found in the student's room indicated "there was a planned attack."Officers found an assault weapon, a handgun, hundreds of rounds of ammunition, and, in a backpack, handmade explosives when they searched the man's room. The assault rifle had a magazine capable of holding 28 bullets, officials said."It could have been a very bad day for everyone here," Beary said. "Let's just face it: One shooting is bad enough. Multiples is unthinkable."Police suspect Seevakumaran pulled a fire alarm in Tower 1 shortly after midnight and planned to injure other students as they evacuated, Beary said. But he changed his mind after the alarm sounded, they believe, returned to his room and killed himself.That may have happened because he pulled a gun on one of his roommates, who then escaped to a bathroom and called 911. The sound of police arriving may have prompted the man to alter his plans.A roommate, Beary said, described Seevakumaran as someone who had "anti-social" tendencies but not as someone he suspected of violence nor someone known to have weapons. His only other involvement with police seemed to be for a traffic violation and an accusation he sold alcohol to someone who was underage.UCF officials said Seevakumaran had not paid the university for this semester and was no longer an enrolled student. But UCF tried to take a "compassionate approach" and not immediately remove him from the campus residence, where he lived on the third floor of the building. But the university was in the process of removing him, officials said.Beary said the deceased had three roommates but one was out of state for the weekend. One called police from the dorm bathroom, and the other fled when the fire alarm went off."It's a tragedy, but it's not an unspeakable tragedy," said UCF President John Hitt at an afternoon news conference. "A life was lost, but it was the life of the perpetrator."By late Monday afternoon, UCF had re-opened Tower 1 to the hundreds of students who had been evacuated from their dorm when the fire alarm sounded and spent the rest of the night in the student union and the nearby arena. UCF classes were canceled for the morning but resumed at noon.Beary said both the guns found in Seevakumaran's room were purchased from an Orlando gun shop, with at least one purchase in February.One was a High Point 45-caliber semi-automatic pistol and the other an American Tech 22-magnum tactical rifle. The rifle, Beary said, could easily have been hidden in a gym bag and brought undetected into the apartment building. Firearms are not allowed on campus.Police also found a backpack containing four "improvised" explosives. Officials would not say what the explosives were made of, but they did say that the bombs "were not in final completed stages." They also said the explosives, together, would not have had enough power to bring down the apartment building.As they investigated the scene, officials uncovered notes from Seevakumaran indicating he had planned an attack in the building. He had laid out a time line but did not give a lot of specific details, Beary said, and did not mention any specific people he wanted to kill.

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